Filling out your ballot is EASY. All you have to do is decide
who your favorite candidate is and then write the number '1' on the ballot next
to the candidate's name. Then decide who your second favorite candidate is and
write the number '2' next to her name. Continue ranking as many or as few candidates
as you like. You can rank all 19 if you want, or only 1, or any number in between.
The choice is yours. As long as you put the number '1' next to one candidate,
your vote will count. If you truly cannot decide between two candidates, you
can them the same rank - but understand that your vote will then be split, and
each person receiving the same rank will share only a fraction of your vote.

Casting your vote by mail

To vote by mail, fill out the ballot you received in the
mail, put it in the return envelope provided, put a 34-cent stamp on it, and
drop it in the mail. The mailing address is:

KPFA Election Committee
PO Box 13349
Berkeley CA 94712-4349

Casting your vote by Internet

You may cast your vote via Internet voting between November
13 and December 13.

You will need the PIN printed on the ballot mailed to you. This
number is printed on the side of the ballot containing the list of candidate
names. Then you will log onto the secure website from a link at www.kpfalab.org.

Once you log onto the website, type in your PIN exactly as shown
on the ballot when requested. This will take you to a page of instructions,
which are just like the instructions on the paper ballot, and then to the ballot
itself, which also appears just like the paper ballot.

The ballot works just like the paper ballot: you type in the
number '1' next to your favorite candidate, the number '2' next to your next
favorite and so on, for as many or as few candidates as you like. If you type
in any character other than numerals, your ballot will not be accepted. You
will have to correct any errors before casting the ballot. After you complete
the ballot, click on the button to submit your ballot. Your vote will then be
cast, and you'll be redirected back to the kpfalab.org homepage.

If you vote by Internet and by mail, we will only count the
Internet ballot.

How will the ballots be counted?

"How will the ballots be counted? First, consider why we're
electing a Local Advisory Board, and not just a Local Advisor. We're electing
a Board because we want the Board to reflect the diversity of the KPFA's local
listeners. We'd like each listener to be able to look at the Board and point
to the person whom they consider to be their representative. So when you're
filling out your ballot, you are voting for your most-preferred candidate to
be your representative on the LAB. This is different from - and we think more
appropriate than - other board elections where you may be accustomed to electing
a slate of candidates, in which case people had many votes - one vote for each
available seat. This means that the majority has the potential to elect every
single member of the board, which leaves minority viewpoints unrepresented.

We're using proportional representation to ensure that all viewpoints
are represented. The proportionality of our system for this election works because
we're giving each person one vote, but we're electing 7 seats because it takes
many seats to reflect the diversity of the KPFA listenership. Instead of one
bloc (more than 50%) of voters choosing all 7 members, and a smaller losing
bloc have no representation, with PR we can have 7 blocs of voters (>12.5%
of the electorate) each select their favored representative, and a much smaller
bloc of 'losing' voters (<12.5%). By voting for your favorite candidate (as
well as 2nd, 3rd and higher choice, if you want), you
determine which bloc you are in and which candidate will represent you.

According to the bylaws adopted by the LAB (http://www.cfdp.org/Democratization/labprop3.htm),
this election will use the choice voting/single transferable ballot form of
proportional representation with additional guarantees of gender and racial/ethnic
diversity. The LAB consists of 14 listener-members as well as 8 staff representatives.
This election will choose 7 new two-year representatives to the LAB, to replace
last year's 4 one-year reps, along with the 3 grandfathered LAB members.

Proportional representation refers to voting systems in which
groups of voters win representation in proportion to their size. For example,
10% of the voters win 1 out of 10 seats, 20% win 2 out of 10 seats, and so forth.
The majority wins a majority, but not all of the seats, while minority viewpoints
also win their fair share of the seats.

The choice voting/single transferable ballot form of proportional
representation is the system in which voters rank candidates in order of choice.

For those who like the technical details of the voting
system, here they are:

Voting system: Choice voting/single transferable
vote (STV)

Number of seats: 7

Number of candidates: 19

Threshold (formula): 1/(seats +1) +1 vote, which
is known as the Droop threshold.

Threshold (percentage): 1/(7+1) + 1 vote = 12.5%
+ 1 vote

Transfers: Fractional (as opposed to whole transfers)

Diversity Algorithm

The bylaw states that the election will use the choice voting
form of proportional representation as well as gender and racial/ethnic quotas
to ensure even representation of men and women and racial and ethnic minorities
and non-majorities. This will ensure that all target groups (males, females,
minorities, non-minorities) will not have fewer than 6 LAB representatives or
more than 8.

To implement this algorithm, we will compute the winners
of the choice voting election without quotas and see if the 7 winners satisfy
the diversity requirements. If so, these 7 winners are elected to the LAB. If
not, we determine the candidates whose eliminations led to the violation
of a diversity requirement and declare them "undefeatable." (For example,
if only 2 men were elected among the 7 winners, but 3 men were required by the
diversity requirement, then we would declare the top 3 men to be undefeatable.)
We then run the choice voting election again, making sure that we do not eliminate
any "undefeatable" candidates. If the new set of 7 winners satisfies
the requirements, the election is completed. Otherwise, we declare additional
candidates undefeatable and rerun this election. We repeat this process until
we achieve the diversity requirements.

Frequently Asked Questions
(FAQ)

Voting

What if I lost my ballot?

Unfortunately, we cannot replace lost ballots.

What if never receive a ballot?

Make sure that you were a qualified voter (contributed $25
or more to KPFA between Sept. 21, 1999 and Sept. 21, 2001; or volunteered at
least 3 hours to support KPFA between Sept. 21, 2000 and Sept. 21, 2001.) If
you think you should have received a ballot but have not by November 27, contact
us by email or phone.

What if I can't log on to the website?

It's probably because it's before Nov 13, when the Internet
voting begins. It ends on December 13, 8pm. If it's after November 13, you may
be typing your PIN incorrectly. Your web browser also needs to accept cookies
and support Java - you might try voting from another computer if you have access
to another. If it's none of these problems, contact the Election committee at
kpfalabelections@hotmail.com
or simply mail in your paper ballot.

Can I give the same rank to more than
one candidate?

We discourage you from giving the same number to more than
one candidate. We encourage you to give a separate rank to each candidate, but
if you do give the same rank to two candidates, we will treat those rankings
as if you gave half your vote to one of the candidates and half of your vote
to the other.

What happens if I vote twice?

We will only count your vote once. You can only cast one
vote by the Internet, and if we've already received an Internet vote from you,
we won't count a paper ballot from you. By checking PINs, we will avoid counting
more than one vote from the same person.

How can I get information about the
candidates?

Read the candidate statements, listen to the on-air forums
and recorded messages, and log on to www.kpfalab.org
and follows the links to the KPFA LAB election page, which contains links to
all of the candidate statements as well as additional information about the
candidates.

We are scheduled to end voting on December 13. We will begin
opening and counting paper ballots after the Internet voting window is closed
and the Internet voting company transmits to us the results of the Internet
voting along with the list of all VRNs that have been voted and the VRNs that
have not been voted. We have reserved the option of extending the voting windows
for paper and internet votes if we need additional time to achieve the desired
10% response rate.

How will the ballots be counted?

The system will use proportional
representation and gender and ethnic/racial diversity requirements. The
physical process will be to open paper ballots, check to see if they've already
been voted, and then keypunch each voter's ballot into vote counting software.
Once we've keypunched and checked all the paper ballots, we will merge that
information with the Internet votes to create a complete list of votes. We will
then determine our winners using computer software certified for use in public
elections and currently used for city council and school board elections in
Cambridge MA.

How are you guaranteeing anonymity
and ballot security?

The anonymity of the ballot results from separating the
vote from the VRN and PIN. Once we do that, we will have no way of knowing which
vote went with which VRN, and hence which person. Security results from sending
one PIN/VRN combination to each voter and ensuring that each VRN can only be
voted once.

What threshold for election are we
using?

We are using the Droop threshold (1/(seats+1) + 1 vote).
Click here for these sorts of technical details.

Composition of the elected Local Advisory Board

How many seats are we electing?

7 seats for a two-year term.

How big is the LAB?

22 members: 14 listener-representatives and 8 staff-representatives.

How many staff seats will there be?

I just answered that question. There will be 8 staff seats.

When will thestaff seats be elected?

They're in that process now

What if I still need more information?

Call 510-848-6767 x 626, clearly state your name and phone number,
tell us when we can reach you, and concisely state your problem or question,
and we'll try to get back to you. You can also send email to kpfalabelections@hotmail.com.